Open Gov Week

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The Open Gov Week (OGW) is an initiative promoted by the Open Government Partnership (OGP) worldwide which aims to disseminate its principles and practices to create a culture, shared by public administrations and citizens, based on the values of transparency and integrity, civic participation and promotion of fundamental rights, as well as accountability of governments to citizens.

The initiative was born in Italy in 2017 upon request of civil society organizations (CSO) and encouraged by the Department for Public Administration which, as known, has been coordinating Italian participation in the OGP since 2011. After the success of the first Italian edition of the Settimana dell’Amministrazione Aperta, in 2018 the OGP Steering Committee has taken over the idea to relaunch it globally and involve all member countries of the Partnership.

To promote the culture of open government, the involved stakeholders organize events during the OG Week to discuss its values and to present, in various modes, good practices implemented in collaboration between public administrations and civil society organizations.

The initiative spreads over five days dedicated to meetings, consultations, seminars and public debates, focus groups, civic monitoring activities, webinars, hackathons, publishing datasets and reports in open format, awards, launching new websites and online services and other initiatives aimed at presenting to the interested citizens and public administrations the ideas and tools to implement open government principles.

Aligning the Italian communication to the global one, from this year onwards also the Italian week dedicated to the promotion of the culture of open government changes its name and takes place simultaneously with the international Open Gov Week. This is also done to demonstrate the unity of the Partnership in a moment when, due to the pandemic and the war, protection of fundamental rights becomes certainly more difficult and even stronger needed to uphold democracy in the world.

Who can take part in the Open Gov Week

The activities of the Open Gov Week target not only professionals but anyone who wishes to make public administrations transparent and open to innovation. Citizens and civil society organizations can organize their own initiatives as part of the Open Gov Week which highlight the importance of taking an active role in the definition of public policies.

The Department for Public Adminidtration, together with the Community OGP Italia, invites to participation in the Open Gove Week all administrations, schools and universities, active citizens and civil society organizations, businesses and associations, namely, all actors interested in the ongoing initiatives and projects which enhance transparency, open data, participation, accountability, active citizenship and inclusive digital innovation.

The contribution of citizens, businesses, organizations and public administrations

The Open Gov Week was born to emphasize the contribution of those who work to render open government tangible: it is an opportunity to present the results of various initiatives and to discuss the aspects that still need improvement, with a view to a collective process built on commitment and responsibility.

Each contribution provided during the OGW is useful for all stakeholders and should be capitalized on for improving the life of communities and, in general, for increasing the quality of democracy at national level.

Each actor presenting own initiatives during the OGW can:

• enhance own credibility, as a tribute to the principle of accountability.

• facilitate understanding of benefits of the practices dedicated to transparency, participation and digital innovation in building the relationship of trust between citizens and institutions.

• inspire and encourage other administrations and CSOs to initiate similar projects, demonstrating that the commitment to open government is not only feasible, but essential to meet the needs of all stakeholders and to improve the quality of citizens’ lives.

 

Anyone wishing to propose an initiative to be promoted during the Open Gov Week can submit an appropriate online form (provided every year) requesting to add the initiative to the list of the events planned and promoted at national level.

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